Nearly every soldier wears body armor to protect themselves from enemy fire during combat. For example, the body armor may be a tactical vest such as an Improved Outer Tactical Vest (IOTV). Such vests may be compatible with other protective components including yokes and collars, throat protectors, and groin protectors. The body armor vests protect soldiers from enemy gunfire, and also serve as a means for carrying combat gear. The vests of today are often designed to allow a great deal of gear to be attached to them, including firearms, ammunition, knives, and electrical devices such as radios. When radios and other electrical devices are associated with the body armor, a soldier must generally carry batteries and cables within their body armor to support and provide power to the various electrical devices. It is not uncommon for soldiers to carry more than ninety pounds on their back including the body armor and its associated firearms, ammunition, knives, and electrical devices.
IOTVs are required to include a quick release system that allows a soldier to pull a strap located on the IOTV in case of an emergency. Pulling the strap will cause a buckle, or a series of buckles, or various loops and cables holding the vest together, to release. The vest will then fall off of the soldier's body, freeing the soldier of the vest. For example, if a soldier falls in water, the soldier may pull the strap and to release the vest and its excess weight, in order to more easily swim to safety. In another example, a soldier may experience a medical emergency requiring another soldier or a health care provider to access the soldier's torso region. In that scenario, it would be necessary to provide a quick release system that allows another soldier to quickly discard the injured soldier's vest to provide medical care.
Presently, a number of systems exist that aim to facilitate the release of the vest in such scenarios. In one system, a long cable weaves through the vest and holds a series of loops in place that further hold the vest in place. When that cable is pulled, the loops separate and the vest falls off. Those vests, however, do not include a means for releasing the electrical connectors and cables associated with the electronic devices the soldier carries. Currently, when the cable is pulled, the vest can hang up on the various electrical connectors and cables until there's enough force in the system to pull the electrical connector apart. Typically the electronic connectors associated with the cables of the vests are designed to separate at ten to fifteen pounds of pull force. This is known in the field as a two stage breakaway.
When the electronics associated with the vest fail to break away when the cable is pulled, the various cables and connectors could cause the same problems that the breakaway vest aims to solve. Even when quick release systems are not of immediate concern, putting on or taking off such a vest may be more difficult due to the various electrical cables that span various connection points within the vest. The electronic cables could get caught up and prevent the vest from being quickly removed during an emergency, or simply during normal donning and removal. Disconnecting the electrical cables could be especially difficult when a soldier is in water, and in a medical emergency, the time required to disconnect the electrical cables may be precious time needed to tend to an injured soldier.
Thus it is desirable to provide a system allows for simultaneously disconnecting electrical connections and associated cables along with various connection points of the best. In emergency situations, such a system would allow the vest and its heavy components to fall off a soldier, and would disconnect electrical cables and connections in the process. In providing such a system, the body armor vest should still capably protect the soldier and provide a means for transporting gear that is crucial to the soldier in combat times.